Movie hit stirs suicide fears
Censor’s warning after ‘severe triggers’ for some viewers
New film A Star is Born must include a warning that the plot includes suicide after viewers were “severely triggered” by the storyline.
New Zealand’s Chief Censor will require the warning note about the Bradley Cooper film to be updated amid concerns its content has caused “severe triggers” for some viewers.
The film was originally classified as M (suitable for those 16 and over). But now the warning will be updated to state: “Sex Scenes, Offensive Language, Drug Use & Suicide”.
Chief Censor David Shanks required the warning note be updated to include “suicide” after receiving complaints including from the Mental Health Foundation.
The police victim support team first advised that two vulnerable young people had been “severely triggered” by the movie.
The Mental Health Foundation had also told them about a number of complaints it had received.
Shanks said A Star is Born handled the topic relatively sensitively, but the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) felt it was in the best interests of the NZ public to add the warning, particularly considering New Zealand’s appalling suicide rate.
“Many people in New Zealand have been impacted by suicide. For those who have lost someone close to them, a warning gives them a chance to make an informed choice about watching,” he said.
Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson said it had had dozens of complaints about the movie, mostly because viewers weren’t warned there were significant suicide scenes in the movie.
“By not being adequately warned they couldn’t make a choice to expose themselves to that or not. I think that was the major issue.”
He said for those going through challenges that were leading them to think about suicide, to be exposed to images or messages about suicide could be really disturbing for them.
“Some people have been really quite affected by it and not just feeling bad, but actually activated anxiety and had to seek professional help. So this is actually quite a serious issue. It’s not just a passing thing or a mild reaction.”
The film was one of several films and television shows, including 13
Reasons Why, that had upset Kiwi viewers, he said.
Robinson said New Zealand’s censorship laws were out of date and he wanted OFLC to have the ability to be more proactive and censor not only films, but also other online series.
He was pleased a warning had been added, but said it was a pity the censor had not been able to give the warning before it was released.